Fate of parking plan in judge's hands

Mar. 15, 2013

Curt Hartman / Enquirer file photo

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Both sides of Cincinnati’s controversial parking lease plan now wait for a judge’s decision on whether the city acted properly in making the ordinance effectively immediately.

What’s at stake is whether the parking plan can go ahead, and if it can’t, whether the city will go through with the drastic cuts promised.

Lawyers argued for about an hour Friday before Hamilton County Common Pleas Judge Robert Winkler, the same judge who granted the temporary restraining order the city wants to dissolve. The judge said he would take some time to review the city charter and consider the lawyers’ arguments.

Curt Hartman, lawyer for the opponents, said he doesn’t believe the city’s “gloom and doom” scenario, which calls for 344 layoffs and other major cuts if the $92 million upfront money from the parking plan doesn’t come. The city’s switching to a fiscal year budget, so City Manager Milton Dohoney will present his proposed budget to council in May for passage by July 1.

Terry Nestor, deputy city solicitor, stressed that the Ohio constitution doesn’t trump city charters and Cincinnati’s charter allows emergency ordinances to not be subject to referendum. He also said voters can have a say in November over parking by electing new council members, not by referendum.

The parking plan, which City Council passed, would lease to the Port of Greater Cincinnati Development Authority and a team of private operators the parking meters, for 30 years, and parking lots and garages, for 50 years.